Playing host to the league leaders, Ormskirk were determined to begin the game on the front foot and not allow Collegiate time to settle into any sort of rhythm and dictate the game.

With the kick off ball safely gathered by back row Martin Rothwell Ormskirk had a solid start and began a series of controlled plays that set the tone for the first 15 minutes.

Play was condensed into the areas between the two 22 metre lines for a period of time, with both sides testing the quality of the defences.

An interchange of kicks ended with Collegiate’s clearance landing in the homes side’s hands well inside the opposition half.

The ball was quickly moved through the backs’ hands to the wide left where winger Owen Griffiths stepped inside the covering tackler to open the scoring under the posts, with the conversion by Alex Lambie, for a 7-0 lead.

A side of Collegiate’s quality was not going to lie down and they hit back strongly with their forward interchange play, quickly moving the ball into the home 22.

A penalty for offside at the ruck brought the visitors a five metre line out from the resulting kick.

A clean catch began a series of controlled forward drives that resulted in a try wide on the left to reduce the score to 7-5.

Ormskirk did not panic and again put together some good phases of play that pressurised the opposition into giving away a penalty that Alex Lambie slotted over to increase the score to 10-5.

Collegiate hit back immediately when the kick off ball was collected by Ormskirk but the clearing kick fell straight to the opposition winger who beating the advancing Ormskirk player put in a clever touchline kick.

At the line out Ormskirk where penalised for dummying the throw and taking a quick tap penalty Collegiate drove at the heart of the defence forcing another penalty.

This was close to the posts and gave an easy three points to the Collegiate fly half for 10-8.

The home side were just beginning to lose their grip as they began to make mistakes, losing the ball in the tackle and giving away penalties at the rucks.

At one lost ball in a tackle Collegiate should have scored but the final pass was judged to be forward by the referee.

Ormskirk were penalised at the resulting scrum for pushing early and then again for not being ten metres from the tap penalty.

Another easy strike by Collegiate’s fly half took them into a 10-11 lead and they finished the half in ascendance.

Collegiate came out of the blocks first at the second period kick off, moving the ball quickly away from the Ormskirk chasers they probed gaps in the home defence.

A strong tackle by Andy Healy stopped the move but support was on the shoulder to take the pop pass and move it to the winger who just managed to cross the line despite the tackle from Owen Griffiths, 10-16.

Ormskirk tried to respond but could still not keep possession as they had done early in the first half.

Ball again given away in a tackle was kicked into the space behind the home defence and had to be scrambled into touch in the 22.

From the line out Collegiate built the pressure with strong forward drives into the centre of the pitch, sucking in the defenders before releasing the ball left for the winger to attack the gaps and score, increasing the lead to 21-10.

A period of Ormskirk pressure saw a number of forward surges by Greg Dykes, Patrick Hagerty and Mark Webster go tantalisingly close to the Collegiate try line.

Martin Rothwell also had a dabble but his stretch for the line fell a couple of centimetres short and Collegiate gratefully took the ball from his outstretched hand to kick clear.

Ormskirk’s efforts were beginning to tell on them, with injuries to Alex Lambie, Owen Griffiths and Tom Travis, the team began to tire.

Their normally strong scrum lost the ball against the head, Collegiate attacked the less defended blindside and a good inside offload put them in for an unchallenged fourth try, 10-28 with the following conversion.

As the game moved into its final phases Ormskirk were unable to move out of their own half and were holding on for the final whistle.

With no chasing of a 22 drop out, Collegiate had a free ball to run back at the home defenders and a number of tired looking tackles allowed the visitors a final converted try.

The 10-35 scoreline was not a fair reflection for the effort and positive way in which Ormskirk approached this match with such a young side, especially in the first half, but Collegiate were well deserving of their victory.